“It’s f—cking ridiculous”: Julius Randle sounds off on poor officiating in Knicks losses to the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers

Julius Randle says the officials need to do a better job as the Knicks lose to the Philadelphia 76ers due to a controversial call. 

Seems as though the New York Knicks have continually been dealt the short end of the stick when it comes to crunch time. Though the Knicks have been exceeding most expectations by pushing for a Playoff berth and even homecourt advantage come postseason time, they’ve been subject to two controversial calls, both of which resulted in a loss. 

Julius Randle has been at the forefront of these seemingly ‘atrocious’ calls. The first was in a close game against the Brooklyn Nets where Kyrie Irving touched the ball while Julius raised up for a shot. After landing back on his feet, he started to dribble. This was ruled a turnover by the refs and the Nets decided the game on the other end. 

Also Read: Ben Simmons points out the weaknesses in Rudy Gobert’s defense: “I don’t think he’s guarding one through five”

In last night’s game against the Sixers, Randle and the Knicks were victim to another call that they believed did not make sense. 

Julius Randle goes off on league officials for yet another bad call

In a game that posted an unusually low score of 88-85 with second left on the clock in the 4th quarter, Julius Randle buried a corner 3 heave to tie the ballgame up at 88 apiece. Though the Knicks would survive regulation, they would end up losing to the Embiid-less 76ers 101-100 at the end of OT. 

This was due to Randle giving a slight nudge to Tobias Harris when going up for a rebound with 5.3 seconds left. The refs called this a foul and gave Harris two free throws at the other end to ice the game. 

Randle was less than pleased by this call as to him, the refs had stolen yet another game from them. He sounded off in his postgame presser on the officials, saying, “Blown call by the officials. For them to call that and decide the game is f—cking ridiculous. They got to do a better job.” 

Here is replay (from several angles) of the foul on Julius Randle with 5.3 sec left in OT. He was not happy with the call.

Randle: “Blown call by the officials…For them to call that and decide the game is fucking ridiculous. Yeah, it’s ridiculous. They got to do a better job.” pic.twitter.com/2YXMa5r4is

— Mike Vorkunov (@MikeVorkunov) March 22, 2021

Also Read: “Atlanta Hawks were a trap game for the Lakers”: Markieff Morris makes excuses for his team’s loss after they lost LeBron James to injury

In all fairness, in the game against the Nets, Randle still had possession of the ball, even though Kyrie touched it. This means that the only two things he could do was pass or shoot, not dribble. 

However, the slight push on Tobias Harris at that stage of the game should’ve been overlooked by the refs. Randle had barely made contact with the Sixers forward and yet it resulted in 2 game-deciding free throws. The way the refs have been officiating this season, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a foul like was called.